The Midget Orioles season came to an end after losing to the Coronation Royals in the semifinals of the AA tier three provincial championships in Barrhead on Sunday, July 27, 2014.
The Royals defeated the Orioles 8-0 after a strong pitching performance by Trey Zimmer. Zimmer threw a complete game shutout, striking out seven Orioles batters. Orioles head coach Steve Hunter discussed the team’s loss in the semifinal.
“We faced a phenomenal pitcher. Their pitcher (Trey Zimmer) was one of their over-agers and he has three or four pitches and he varies his speed very well and he just kept our kids off balance. He had a really good curve (ball) and when he wanted to throw his fastball, he really stepped on it so we ran into a hot pitcher,” said Hunter.
The Orioles captured their first win of the tournament early on Sunday morning when they beat the Whitecourt Rays in a thrilling come from behind victory. The Orioles opened the scoring in the first inning with one run but then their bats fell silent. The Rays bats came alive in the middle half of the game when they put up ten runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Hunter explained what happened in this middle innings.
“We dug ourselves an early hole again. It was frustrating to watch the middle part of that game because I knew the kids could play better than that,” Hunter said.
The Orioles were down 10-4 entering the top of the seventh inning with a spot in the semifinals up for grabs when their bats came alive. The Orioles knocked around two Rays’ pitchers on their way to scoring seven runs in the top half of the inning. Hunter described what it was like to see his team play well to end the game.
“You could feel the momentum shift in that inning and the boys carried it through, they started hitting, and we got that seventh run in and we were up by one so it was a pretty special feeling. I think the boys felt good about it too,” he added.
Orioles’ pitcher Tanner Whiting secured the win for his team when he struck out two of the three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh. Whiting was a call-up from the bantam Orioles for this tournament and Hunter addressed his performance.
“Having to come to a new team, not having been around all year long he did a great job. He hit the ball well and pitched phenomenally especially for a bantam player moving up for this tournament. You hate to say it but lefties are a rare commodity that not many people have so it was nice to pick him up,” added Hunter.
The Orioles opened the tournament with a 7-2 loss to the Red Deer Braves on Saturday. Hunter described what went wrong in the opening game of the tournament.
“We, once again, had a bad first inning. We booted the ball around and had a few errors and then we didn’t hit the rest of the game. We didn’t play badly; it just didn’t come together for us. It always seems to be the first inning in front of the home crowd that causes us problems,” he said.
Now that his team’s season is over, Hunter shared his thoughts on his team’s provincial performance and on the entire season.
“I thought the kids did phenomenally well the entire weekend. We were a first year team in midget ball but I am very proud of them because they battled every time we were down. They never gave up and they did that all year long, which is why I think this season was a success,” Hunter said. “I was very happy with season. We lost five of our first six games but we came back and had a winning performance after that. They learned as they went along and we moved into a higher tier because of that. I think the kids will look at this entire season as a positive experience.
The Orioles hosted this year’s provincial tournament but had to battle the elements including inclement weather, which made for an interesting experience. Hunter explained what it was like hosting the tournament.
“The parent group did a phenomenal job getting ready for provincials. I have to especially thank Deb Schembri, Jody Round and Kelly Laun. Those three ladies were instrumental in the success of the tournament. We also had our grounds crew do a fantastic job considering the weather we had leading up to the tournament,” he said. “With the group of parents we have, I was able to help organize the tournament but still coach my team. Everybody came together, knew what they had to do, so it was an incredible weekend.”
